Wing Commander!

Mundane

Watched the movie for the second time, first time since 2000 I believe. Actually found the movie to be a lot better than I remember....Hell....I miss a good space combat sim in the spirit of Wing Commander (Or Independence War 2 for that matter).

Seafroggys

I remember when I first saw it in 1999 and I"m like "this movie has the most incredible special effects I have ever seen." :P

Kinda interesting how they really developed cgi for space operas really early on, it looks realistic. I mean, watching Star Trek First Contact, a movie that came out 11 years ago! (geez I feel old) and the special effects are, to this day, still absolutly amazing.

RubberEagle

[QUOTE=Seafroggys;164587]I remember when I first saw it in 1999 and I"m like "this movie has the most incredible special effects I have ever seen." :P

Kinda interesting how they really developed cgi for space operas really early on, it looks realistic. I mean, watching Star Trek First Contact, a movie that came out 11 years ago! (geez I feel old) and the special effects are, to this day, still absolutly amazing.[/QUOTE]

Actually, First Contact still employed models for most of the shots. There are only a few CGI shots.
And IMHO the Enterprise E never was more beautiful as in First Contact. The lighting, the whole feel... It's a shame that they didn't use ILM for Insurrection and Nemesis.

Biggles

My favourite memory of that movie is the wrecked spaceship being pushed off the runway and falling over the side. In space. Without gravity.

Vorlons in my Head

I'll take good models over most CGI any day. Models just look great. 2001 is still awesome.

Akrovah

Ahh.. Wing Commander. One of the funnest stupidest movies I have ever seen. And I love it. Kinda the same with DOOM. Neither really have anything to do with the properties they were based on, but they were still fun. Like guilty pleasures.

Sanfam

I still worship the music.

Akrovah

The music is one of the better things about the movie. I get it in my head every now and then. Like now actually.

Seafroggys

[QUOTE=Vorlons in my Head;164603]I'll take good models over most CGI any day. Models just look great. 2001 is still awesome.[/QUOTE]

2001 has probably the best space shots of any movie ever made. Of course there was absolutly 'zero action' could contribute to the awesomeness of it.

And you have to be kidding that First Contact was done with models. I didn't think space operas used models past '95, especially a big budget movie like Star Trek. The ships are moving far too realistically, and look far too awesome.

David of Mac

Actually, the Enterprise-E was a model in almost every shot. The Borg Cube and Sphere were also models. The federation ships in the battle at the beginning were CGI, as were (most of?) the escape pods at the end. Don't know about the Phoenix.

Entil'Zha

I've been on about the lack of a proper space combat sim for years, i'll admit, i didnt' really get into Wing Commander until Prophecy (i was more into adventure games a la Kings/Space/Police quest) But i loved the gameplay, and i'd been playing the X-Wing series since the beginning, when online play came about in the X-Wing frachise, i was lucky enough to work for an ISP with a T1, so we'd hang out after work, and play online.

This was one of the reasons i was so excited about ITF, a space combat sim, in the B5 universe? would have kicked arse.

IIRC Lucasarts was recently asked about the X-Wing franchise, and said there are zero plans for any more in the series at this time, i found that to be a crying shame.

ShadowDancer

That doesnt surprise me at all Entil'Zha. Why would they want to continue one of the best series of games ever made afterall? :( There havent been any Lucasarts games that I've been truly excited about since X-Wing Alliance and Rebellion/Supremacy. I did get a bit excited about Force Commander, but none since that huge disappointment. Empire at War was good for having space battles in again, but it was too simple.

Mundane

[QUOTE=Biggles;164592]My favourite memory of that movie is the wrecked spaceship being pushed off the runway and falling over the side. In space. Without gravity.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, quite funny :). Also agree that the music is quite good, like the music in the WC games (except for Prophecy).

today I am going to watch Pitch Black again.

Seafroggys

[QUOTE=ShadowDancer;164615]That doesnt surprise me at all Entil'Zha. Why would they want to continue one of the best series of games ever made afterall? :( There havent been any Lucasarts games that I've been truly excited about since X-Wing Alliance and Rebellion/Supremacy. I did get a bit excited about Force Commander, but none since that huge disappointment. Empire at War was good for having space battles in again, but it was too simple.[/QUOTE]

What about Grim Fandango?

Biggles

It was released 5 months before X-Wing Alliance.

ShadowDancer

Heh, overcome by nostalgia I went out yesterday and bought the Wing Commander movie. I forgot how much I enjoyed it :)

You know, when they push that fighter off the runway it does kinda make sense that it falls off. It isnt pushed off the end of the runway into space, its pushed off into what looks like a giant gutter down the side. The ship obviously has artificial gravity, so why shouldnt it fall down?

Akrovah

Thats the argument I kept trying to make to this one friend of mine, who basically just said I was stupid. My thought was not a gutter so much as an artificial gravity field surrounding the ship,as opposed to the gravity being built into the deck, then, since the flight deck was in the middle of the ship, it would fall, and then when it reached the end of the field the fighter's momentum would keep it going. His answer was just "No"

Biggles

That's my opinion as well: a sort of gravity bubble. It's the only explanation that makes sense. :)

Sanfam

I just laughed a bit and moved on to the horrible dialog.

Seafroggys

[QUOTE=David of Mac;164611]Actually, the Enterprise-E was a model in almost every shot. The Borg Cube and Sphere were also models. The federation ships in the battle at the beginning were CGI, as were (most of?) the escape pods at the end. Don't know about the Phoenix.[/QUOTE]

yeah I figured the Borg ships were models, they looked too good to be CGI (even in this day and age).

Vorlons in my Head

I vaguely remember that scene but if the ship didn't in fact fall off the edge, then how would we know they were trying to copy that video of the huey being pushed off the edge of the aircraft carrier during the Vietnam pullout?

Sanfam

It could be, but any hope for a successful homage was lost in the bad dialog and silly surrounding scenario.

Falcon1

WC would have been superb if most of the of funding hadn't been pulled. What I read anyway. I mean the effects were not bad at all and the cast line up were pretty good (kinda hard to take Freddie Prince Jr seriously though). After that it turned into something that in no way reflected the drama, suspense and plot of the video game. And with Malcolm McDowell as Admiral Tolwyn... pure class!

Back to the film, the thing that sold it for me was the Kilrathi being pushed along on wheels :D Oh boy they pulled out the stops there ;)

Sanfam

WC had all the funding it needed. It didn't need any more. It needed writing on par with that of the game.

Falcon1

Hmm I remember reading a review of the film and it stated that a lot of funding was pulled half way through which had a huge impact on the end result. But obviously yes the lack of decent writing and typical layered amounts of cheese ruined it.

I think the review I read was in SFX magazine... maybe I should have taken that review with a pinch of salt :D

RubberEagle

Well, I'm not sure if the funding was pulled or they just spent too much money (One of the rumors states they cut up.. i think F16s (edit: According to imdb the rumor states MiG 21s) for the fighters), but they had to cut a sequence, where the captain of the Tiger Claw was revealed to be a traitor working for the Kilrathi. That's why he's no where to be seen in the second half of the movie, after receiving a minor blow to the head...